Give Your World Consequences — Using the MÖRK BORG Prophecy System

Today I want to highlight a "hidden" mechanic in MÖRK BORG—the Prophecy system.

To sum it up: the DM rolls their chosen dice (1d2,1d6,1d10, etc.) at dawn.  If it is a 1, the prophecy advances and some terrible events sweep the land.  This escalates with each 1 until the 7th 1 is rolled where the DM is told: "the game and your lives end here. Burn this book."

Wow.

That is Metal.

Not only is that thematic and bold—but it addresses something I think is missing from modern day ttrpg DM session prep.  Fun.  Sitting down and just typing up notes is a quick way for me to feel that prep is a chore—which hurts my interest in getting ready for the game.  Using the Prophecy system, each time I prep (assuming the sessions generally begin at dawn) I get to play a micro game.  Does the world get worse?  

Now I am not advocating for every DM to build in an objective time their world violently ends.  But this mechanic can be ported to encompass anything that the players do not have control over. |That is something very important—the players cannot have control over the advancement.  For a setting to feel "real," things need to be happening in a way that the players cannot influence.  For example, they cannot solve the B plot while they focus on the A plot.  A DM could easily tie this mechanic to a D plot.  Some event that they are personally interested in seeing what happens but the players have not made the focus on the adventure.  

In my Old School Essentials game, the King will die on the seventh 1.  His death will drastically change the state of the world.  One through six will usher in events leading up to that situation that also are felt no matter where the players may be.  The events will not be anything that commands player action.  Similar to MÖRK BORG's world ending, the players cannot influence the death of the king.  It is inevitable.  What makes this a wonderful tool for DM's is that the level of unpredictability leads me to be excited to prep!  Is this the day the third 1 is rolled?  Whew it is not—the Party will wake without there having been a new disaster in the world.

This mechanic also increases verisimilitude.  Often RPG forums frequently tell new and experienced DM's to give the players "consequences" for their inactions to show that the world is moving.  "The clock is always ticking!" many say, without any further detail into making that just more work for a DM.  Employing "Prophecies" [read: any world changing consequence that is going to happen, it doesn't need to be an actual prophecy] sets triggers that will occur in the world ahead of time.  

With their timing being sudorandom, even the DM cannot initially prep for them.  This means you cannot preset your expectations.  If you know ahead of time all birds stop flying on the 5th day of the campaign, all your prep for days 1-4 will reflect that knowledge.  But if you prep 1-4 like "normal" sessions and then the 5th day comes, a 1 is rolled, and the birds lose flight.  That is engaging.  That generates new interest in the world and can take the story in a direction you would not have otherwise considered.  Because the players need to hear/see the worsening situation.  Even if they are deep unground, they have to find out on that day the birds no longer fly.

Now I want to briefly mention that this "gamification" of DM prep is not just seen in MÖRK BORG.  Stars/Worlds Without Number adds the GM turn—where the factions get to act and influence the world.  This takes a little more work for the DM to prep during the worldbuilding stage, but is also super useful.  Random tables get close to achieving the gamification ideal in helping break the rut of generic prep and to jumpstart creativity.

I have yet to play or read its rules in earnest, so a review is still a ways a way!  I just wanted to highlight a mechanic that I feel could go unnoticed.  Add tools to your game that allows the preparation to be a soloRPG that you run for you.  It will get you more excited for your sessions and take the story/setting in ways that you might not have imagined.  It may also be the key to help you push through the times where you lack motivation.

As a quick aside—ZineQuest 3 is coming up next week!  It is such a great time to celebrate the indie developers in the ttrpg scene who continue to put out amazing products.  I will certainly try to make a post discussing some of the gems but there are many other bloggers—such as Thought Eater (https://frothsofdnd.blogspot.com) and Pandatheist (https://boneboxchant.wordpress.com/) who are covering the available products in a much more comprehensive manner.  Check them out! 

Reaction to Willow: A Grim Micro Setting

Summary:

Willow is designed as a "micro setting."  It contains a small hub town (the titular: Willow), a hex map of the surrounding area (a total of 33 hexes), and many interesting locations.  There are two dungeons - though only one is keyed out.

It is described by the author as "a backwater town . . . used as a waypoint to be ferried upriver to a larger, brighter, and bigger town."  Willow suffers from blight & all ferrys have stopped due to the dangers in the surrounding woods. 

I ran/am running this using Knave - which fits right at home with the tone.  However, Willow is system agnostic and I agree that it could be run using any OSR system or D&D 5e.

Obviously spoilers below...

Things I Loved:

For 33 pages this book is packed full of wonderful content.  

The key NPC's have amazing art and include bullets on "What Does She/He Want."  This is very helpful to understand their driving motivation.  There is also a section on what certain NPC's could be doing - which aids the GM in making the town feel alive.  

The town hit the highest highs during it's mundanity.  Players can see how this place is a "real" location.  I mean that to say it is not a town waiting for the Party to come save it.  The have a steady world state that - while is not the best of living - is at least stable.  Or as stable as depending on a witch to temporarily cure your blight can be . . . . But ce la vie! 

The Seaweed Shrine is also a very strong mini dungeon.  Consisting of 16 rooms - it is something that could easily be completed in a session or two.  The book does a great job of not containing too much fluff description.  A GM would be fine reading the text mostly as is.  In future projects, I think having player focused text bolded for dungeons is "best practices" but that is a super nitpick.  I dislike dungeons that are completely gonzo as these can create a narrative dissonance between a mundane town.  The Seaweed Shrine is interesting and engaging - without getting into the absurd.  This is tough balance to strike - and I accordingly weigh this heavy in my overall rating.

Lazy Litch also improved the "relationships" table from Woodfall.  I haven't gotten a chance to run/deep dive into Woodfall yet, but one thing I noticed is the relationships table of the Woodfall residents was pretty unreadable.  Not the case with Willow.  There are not just the pictures of the NPC, but their name, which helps the DM understand the social situation of Willow. 

The Fantastical:

"Evil Plants in the Corrupted Wood."

This page is dedicated to gibing a GM tools to narrate not just the types of flora that the players will observe when trecking through the woods, but their effects.  Knowing the the sap of Necrotic Wood can be used to make sleep potions or that the wood itself is sought by necromancers for it's use in constructing powerful staves/wands - again - helps tie Willow to an existing world.  A necromancer could ask the Party to gather the wood from these trees or later rant to the Party as to a lack of construction materials - giving them the opportunity to negotiate! 

Also there are skull flowers AND skull roses!  Complete with perfect art. 

Oh and the Ashen Dryad champion art is something I would want framed . . .

                                                                                          Ashen Dryad Champion

Could Be Improved:

My only real complaint is the Necrotic Trent and that plot thread seem pushed towards the back of the book despite the timeline suggesting that the Treat must be dealt with or Willow will be destroyed.  

This seems antithetical to the books premise that it is a modular town that does not demand the Party stay for a prolonged time.  I think those pages are useful (and filled with some amazing art) but I do wish this would have been changed to be less dire.

I guess also the riddle in the Seaweed Shrine is pretty difficult (at least to me).  I'm not particularly good at riddles, so I might not be the intended audience.  However, completing the Seaweed Shrine is not a requirement so it is less of a problem.  The players don't have to get through it - in fact, they might never enter it at all given the amount of other interesting locations available to engage with.  

Rating:

Overall the 2d6 = 10.  This zine deserves all the praise! 

The elements that make up the town of Willow allow it to exist completely independent of whatever setting you run.  This is really wonderful since it allows a DM to easily slot it in to their persistent campaign. 

The random tables are evocative -- especially the random treasure table. 

Finally, Willow's thesis statement is completely delivered on through consistent usage of tonally correct NPC's, locations, and enemies. 

Knave Session Report - #8 - This Town is a Daisy Chain of Struggle

Session Summary:

Just before entering the outskirts of the forerst the party chatted with an adventuring group leaving Burle. The group (the 4 hearts) only had 2 remaining each displaying serious injuries. The group told them that they attempted to kill the witch and failed.

Party took that to mind and headed into the city. Stopped at the general store, where the shopkeeper was keeping a bunch of ratfolk safe underground. The party loved them and one will be traveling with them once they leave town. They heard rumor that there is a dragon egg nearby. The ratfolk are being killed by "the crows" so the shopkeeper (a former adv.) is hiding them. The party learned more about the city (suffering from a blight that the witch annually fixes). The witch has not yet solved the issue - as there is some problem between the mayor (the witches sister) and her.They also learned there is an elvish shrine that leads underground - which all are forbidden to enter. This peaks their interest.They then hung out with some kids and after giving them some adventuring gear - the kids let them in on a secret - the dragon has hatched and is nearby!



Things That Went Well:

I did a ton of voices and interesting over the top personalities. Each NPC felt very different from the last. I worry sometimes that NPCs will feel too samey if their trait isn't played up. I'm okay with the PC's being even handed and stable - the world should be evocative and make them not recognize they are just talking to me instead of a mayor/bartender/storekeep.



Things to Improve:

Got asked after the session by two people if they could have a area map so they could understand where all the points of interest are around them. They will receive a hex map next session lol. This group is new to ttrpg's and I didn't know if a hex map would overwhelm them.

Lesson Learned:

Two-fold -- wow willow as a zine is wonderful and meshes with my style. The second is that giving the party too much to quickly handle helps them set priorities - then the problems can overlap later to make the region feel less like a bunch of individual quests and more like a real locale. Having "too much to do" also lessens the concerns of players/DM's that the party feels obligated to follow the "main quest." There are too many interesting things for one to seem like a main option - this can increase engagment and player agency over their role in the game.



Module Referenced:

Having left Saltmarsh, this session referenced Willow by Lazy Litch [a review will be coming soon!]